The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1887-05-26
THE USEFUL SAW.
The Origin Buried in the Mists
of Antiquity,
Now An Instrument of Great Utility in
the Industrial World.

The Greeks attributed the invention
of the saw to the accidental finding of
the jaw bone of snake by Talus, who
used it 10 cat through small piece of
wood. Being a slave and finding this
jaw bone eased his labor, he made
saw of iron and thus shaped for man
new and most valuable tool. But the
idea of the saw could be easily suggested
to primitive man in different sections Of
the globe by accidental notching of
metals, or the scrrated bones Of fish. 1t
is said the original inhabitants of Ma
deira found ready made saw in the
back bone of fish. There is saw-fy
with saws in its tail, which it uses to
saw stems, leaves and fruit to make re-
ceptacles for its eggs.
In ancient saws the teeth were so ar
ranged that the cut was made by pulling
instead of pushing, and the teeth set so
that ten or dozen in succession slanted
one way and then ten or more were
slanted in the other instead of each al
ternate tooth.
The Greeks used cross cut saws fol
two men, also saws for cutting marble
into slabs; and they had tubular saw
for following out a marble bath tub
similar in principle to the modern i'm
plement. In the burned city of Hercu-
laneum apicture was uncovered repre-
senting two Genii saving piece of
wood on carpenters bench not unlike
tho style now in use and using saw
with wooden frame similar to those
employed, and the frame is tightcncd
with rope and stick just as wood-saw-
yers have it, and was doubtless as fa-
miliar to the Romans as it is to us.
The first trace of saw-mill in Ger
many is of one at Augsburg in the year
1887, and there are now two near that
city which are known to have existed
since 1417. Before the invention of the
saw-mlll boards and planks were split
with wedges and hewn smooth by the
axe. Peter the Great of Russia states
be had great difficulty in inducing the
timber cutters of his empire to discon-
tinue this method, andit is still resorted
to where the tools of civilization are not
at hand. In Norway, a country of
forests, there was not one saw-mill be-
! fore 1890, and the English bitterly op-
| posed the introduction of the saw-mill.
In 1868, Hollander erected one
near London, but the wood d-cutters
and sawyers would not permit it to
continue. No serious attempt to erect a
saw-mill in England was again made
until 1857, when large English lumber
dealer built saw-mill to be worked by
wind. No sooner was it complete than
the sawyers assembled in large numbers
and demolished it. The Government
compensated the owner and alarge num-
Der Of the rioters were punished. A
new mill speedily replaced the destroyed
one and was success. Now, they have
saws in Great Britain so fine as to cut
diamonds, and circular saws nine feet in
diameter, while the United States have
distanced the English and almost reached
perfection in saw-miil machinery and
wood shaping machines and tools.
An immense amount Of lumber is
wasted in sawdust, but this wastage
even is to be practically stopped by ma
chinery.
DR.. H. S. Smith, of Brooklyn, N. Y,
the inventor of the improved veneer cut
ting machine, has applied the principle
of that machine to one for cutting logs
into timber. One of the machine,
adopted for cutting logs four feet long
and averaging two feet in diameter, will
cut in one day 80, 500 feet of inch, 60, 600
feet of half-inch, or so, 900 feet Of quar-
ter-inch lumber. The operation of cut
ting renders smooth the surface of the
board, as if planed, SO that the machine
is combined substitute for saving and
planning. The inventor shows barrel
slaves made from lumber manufactured
by his machine and ella ms that it viii
turn out 4, 500 slaves per 1000 feet in
stead of the 1900 other machines pro-
duce. 1t will revolutonize box and